Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Ode to Lice and Radar Guns

Nineteen year old Zachary Skinner was only going 101 mph in his 2006 Hyundai when he flashed past Deputy Grant Steube and his radar gun. He was probably going even faster than that before Steube finally caught up to him with his flashing lights and blaring sirens. When Steube asked him why he was driving so fast, Skinner said that he was rushing to get home before dark because he didn't want to get into trouble for breaking his curfew. As you can probably guess, Skinner was arrested and charged with reckless driving… which meant that he didn’t make it home by dark! You may be wondering why Skinner had a “be home before dark” curfew? Because he had received four other tickets (this was the 5th) in the last 11 months, including two for speeding!

It’s easy to see other people’s hypocrisy, isn’t it? Does it make sense to be so concerned that you make curfew that you drive 100 miles an hour? Not much? How about the Pharisees who so used tithing as an excuse not to care for their aging parents (Mk 7:9-13). Some Jewish women today believe that modesty dictates that their head be covered in public, and they do that by wearing wigs made of human hair and costing thousands of dollars! I heard about one big-hearted guy who robbed a local business because he wanted to give some money to a local charity (maybe he though he was Robin Hood?). Yes, it is easy to see inconsistencies and hypocrisies in others.

But those puppies are a bit harder to spot in our own lives, aren’t they? Robert Burns’ famous poem “Ode to a Louse” ends with the line “O would some Power, the gift to give us, To see ourselves as others see us!” Indeed, it is easy to be blind to our own warts and flaws. I am sure that the Priest and Levite felt completely high and holy when they passed by on the other side and didn’t help the wounded man. Hey, maybe they were on their way to church and didn’t want to be late! But how much harder it is to see when we are the Priest or the Levite!

Let’s do a better job straining out the camels in our own lives, then maybe the gnats (or lice) of others will take care of themselves.

2 comments:

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same said...

. . . the camels in our lives in any form, the most common and immediate being the dangerous tons of metal that are being propelled in out of any available gap left by those who we love and cherish (as they attempt to leave a safe and happy distance between them and the one in front of them) while some continue putting themselves in front of others by any means. They are expediting themselves at others expense and they must stopped. Thanks to all those who lay down their own risking their lives that we and our law abiding friends will be able to live unmolested.

A wise woman once said, “your friend will tell you when you have a booger hanging out of your nose.”

I say, “A friend will tell you if your shoe is untied before he or she lets you step out into the rain but your enemy will just smile and call you a fool behind your back.”